The Knitter’s Notes Instagram

Hey Everyone!

I had been toying with the idea for a while of making a dedicated “The Knitter’s Notes” Instagram page. For a little while I was posting my knitting stuff on my “Simple Homemaking” page, and I may still post some things there as well as to the knitter’s notes page. Now I have an instagram dedicated to my Knitting pictures. I also wanted to get it, to make sure no one else claimed “The Knitter’s Notes” on Instagram. This way, my blog, Instagram, and Facebook Page all have the same title. It is definitely easier to have them all the same thing than have to explain why one is different because I didn’t claim it first. 

Today, I have been working on my Hazelnut colored socks, while watching the Animal Adventure Park giraffe live feed, as April is supposed to be having her calf in the very near future. I have been watching the live feed on and off since mid February. Waiting on a giraffe to give birth is like watching the paint dry. 

Now that I am back to working with Palette Yarn, I didn’t know how much I liked it, until after working with a yarn so difficult that the tension I was having to put in my little needles snapped one of them in two. 

Of the wool sock yarn I have, I have two skeins that are not the KnitPicks Palette Yarn, which I hope will Knit up ok. Though the vast majority of my wool sock yarn I currently have is the KnitPicks Palette Yarn, in various colors. I will definitely be posting pictures and blog posts about them. 

I am really loving the Hazelnut color of Palette yarn. It’s definitely a brown, but it has more of an orangey red tone to it. It is really pretty. It also goes really well with the color “Victorian” which I would say is a bright dusty rose color. 

With as much of the Victorian I have in my stash as well as the Hazelnut I will have left over, I will hopefully be able to get two pairs of Victorian socks and a pair of Victorian & Hazelnut socks. 

The Palette yarn works up pretty fast and I really haven’t had any issues with it, which is good, beings that I am just getting started on the roughly 4 dozen pairs of socks I will be making with it. 

100% Merino Wool Socks

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Today I finally got the pair of 100% Merino Wool socks I have been working on for the past week and a half done. 

I am interested to see how I like (or possibly don’t like) these socks in comparison to the other socks I am working on. 

These socks were a pain in the rear to knit up, since the yarn was two strands and kept separating, and one ply of the two was longer than the other and kept looping and slowing me down. The yarn was also super stiff to work with, which didn’t surprise me. It has softened up since I washed it, but it was still annoying. I didn’t have as many issues with the Palette Yarn. 

Beings today has been a little bit warmer (though it has been average for where we should be this time of year) and not pouring rain, I decided to put my socks outside on the line to help them dry as quickly as possible beings that those I live with don’t appreciate the smell of wet sheep. 

I had used the eucalan wool wash in Eucalyptus and Grapefruit, as I ha done single use pod in each, and I can only get about one sock washed with each. I had bought the single use pods to see if I liked the scents, and actually use them to wash wool. Honestly I prefer Eucalan Wrapture for washing wool. Though the lavender or unscented would be fine to. The wrapture is my favorite of the scents, and it has lanolin in it which is good for wool. 

Beings that I got them done early enough in the day, it is time to start another pair of socks! 

Oh for the love of sock yarn

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I got my last KnitPicks package for the time being in the mail today. In it were 8 balls of KnitPicks Palette Yarn. I had ordered 2 balls of 4 different shades of green beings that they were on sale before St Patrick’s Day. The four colors I had purchased are: Ivy, Larch Heather, Douglas Fir, and aurora heather. All four are darker more natural shades of green, which is what I was going for since I am wanting most of my wool hiking socks to be of either jewel tones or more natural colors. 

Now that the weather is warming up, is the perfect time to be working on hiking socks, so I will have a stash knit up for when the weather cools off again, or if I get to go hiking in a cooler climate.  I am definitely wanting to get more hiking and time in outdoors this year. 

If the sock yarns I have worked with so far, I am definitely liking the Palette Yarn the best for working with. 

As I stash bust my Palette Yarn, and after I find a new job, I also want to get some more acrylic sock yarn so I will also have more in the way of lightweight socks for warmer weather to wear hiking. I have a few skeins of acrylic sock yarn, but nothing like I do in the way of wool. Though I do have to say that the Palette Yarn is lightweight enough I could wear it as long as it’s not super hot outside anyway. Then again, I wouldn’t likely be out hiking if it is sweltering hot. I am more of a cool climate kind of person, or at least getting out and hiking in the morning before the heat of the day is at its worst. 



Another KnitPicks Package!!!

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Today I got one of my last KnitPicks packages for a while, in the mail today. In it, were the two pattern books I had Order as well as six balls of the Palette Yarn. Two balls each of the following colors: Comfrey, Caribbean, and Sagebrush. 

The two pattern books I got were: Highland Knits and Little Luxuries. The Highland Knits is a collection of patterns based on season one of Outlander. While I am not so much a fan of the show (the books are better), I did like the scenery and the costumes. I really liked Claire’s Rent Collection Shawl, and once I learn how to do short rows, and conceal short rows, I am going to make one for myself. The Little Luxuries book is a collection of patterns by KnitPicks that they showcase in their latest catalog. I was drooling over that catalog, and wanted a lot of the patterns, so now I have them. When I am able to buy more yarn, I am going to try a few of the shawls. 

I love finding yarns and patterns that inspire me, and set my creative wheels going. Whenever I get ahold of patterns, I get inspired. 

Before I dive into shawls and stuff from my new pattern books, I want to stash bust all my sock yarn and get my sock collection complete. Well, as complete as I have sock yarn to use at the moment complete. My last box of sock yarn should be here early this next week. 

But Erica, why are you going crazy knitting socks when you really don’t even like wearing socks? It’s true, I am not a huge fan of wearing socks. I am knitting up socks, because I want a variety of quality made socks for hiking socks that will last for a while and will actually keep my feet warm in the cooler, wetter months to go hiking and do other outdoor activities. I also have some synthetic fiber yarns, and eventually want to get some more of the lightweight sock yarn, to knit up my own hiking socks for the warmer months. 

I have my knitting work cut out for me, and I am totally ok with that. 

Why I Don’t Sell on Etsy

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Over the years, I have gotten a lot of people tell me something along the lines of “you should sell on Etsy” or “selling what you make on Etsy should be your career”, or “you could make a living on etsy”. I know they mean well, but I always hear it from non knitters, and at this point I tell them that for someone like me to sell on etsy, I would lose money on everything I sell, just to get it sold. 

I will use a pair of socks for example, using KnitPicks Palette Yarn, that I had bought enough of to get free shipping and had paid full price. For an average woman’s foot, to get a pair of socks, I need one and a part of a second ball, so I buy two of every color I want to use, for a single pair of socks. Then I also have to factor in the electricity I use while knitting up the socks, as well as the cost of the wool wash, the water, and electricity to wash and dry the socks, then cost of shipping materials, the cost of shipping and the labor from the time I start the socks, to completing them, washing them, drying them, taking the pictures, posting it on Etsy, packing them up to ship, and then shipping the items, would take a good 50 – 60 hours. 

So let me break it down for you in the numbers:

Cost to post an item to my etsy shop: $.20

Cut etsy takes from price items sell for: 3.5%

Cost for two balls of KnitPicks Palette Yarn (based on having an order over $50 to qualify for free shipping) – $6.98

Electric bill allocation for electricity used while working on each project: $20

Water & Sewer usage to wash a pair of socks – $5

Shipping materials: $5+

Shipping: $5+

60 hours of labor at $15 an hour – $900

So in order to take a living off of selling socks on Etsy, I would have to charge, roughly $990.47 plus shipping for a pair of socks.

I don’t care who you are, and what your budget is, or the fact that they are a good quality sock, no one is going to pay roughly $1000 for a pair of socks, but that is why I would have to charge to make a living off of selling what I make on Etsy. That is why I don’t sell on Etsy, I know i can’t make a living that way off selling what I make. 

Not to mention dealing with small business taxes, and that is a definite deal breaker for me. I am the creative one, not the numbers one. 

Finished Socks for Mom

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I was up until the early hours of the morning this morning finishing up a pair of socks for my mom. I was working on the second sock, and I was working on the toe of the sock and it just kept getting later and later, and by the time the toe is down to the last 9 stitches on each needle, you run the risk of your needles sliding out of the stitches if you put it down. So I just stayed up and finished the second sock. 

Once I got up this morning, I washed the socks with the lavender scented eucalan wool wash, and I now have them drying on socks blockers. 

The yarn I used for these socks is from KnitPicks. It’s their Palette Yarn, in marble heather (the grey) and wonderland heather (the greenish blue). I used size 1 (2.25 mm) double pointed needles. 

When your Favorite Yarn Store Closes

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Today, I found out that my favorite local yarn shop has closed it’s physical store. I loved that store, it was well organized, it was light and airy, with a great selection without being over crowded. They also had a back room with a large table for people to sit around, and some couches that were around a gas fireplace.

I don’t know the reasoning behind the closure of their physical store, but it makes me sad. They also had knit nights Thursday nights. I was often sad that I would have to miss it while I had my previous job, since I worked until 6 pm, and knit night went from 5 – 8 pm. By the time I got off work, and would get dinner it would be about 7, so even if I was able to get out the door, I wouldn’t have gotten there until 7:30 to 7:45, so I was never able to go while I had my last job.

There are a few more yarn stores in the surrounding metro area that I haven’t been to, so I may have to check them out, and see if any of them become my new favorite. Happy Knits will be missed.

I hate seeing small locally owned businesses go out of business. When it comes to yarn and knitting supplies, Joann’s and Michael’s work for the basics, and for the kind of yarn I use for charity knitting projects (the 100% acrylic stuff), but for personal projects, they are sorely lacking in the good yarn, and the nice needles, which I had been able to get at Happy Knits. I am hoping I find a new favorite local yarn store before I need more yarn for personal projects.

Being Inspired to Knit Again

Hey Everyone! 

Now that I have a bit more time to dedicate to knitting, I have been able to enjoy it so much more. All the creativity I had been able to channel a couple years ago had to be shelved for a while. I can tell it is starting to return.

My desire to post more about why I am working on, what is inspiring me, and the whole 9 yards when it comes to knitting is coming back too. While a lot has changed in the past two and a half years, at the same time, not a lot has changed. 

I am definitely needing to get back into some sort of posting routine, but I will figure that out in time. 

For those of you who have been with me since the beginning, I appreciate your patience with me for the past two and a half years, as I have not had the time to devote to my blog like I once had been able to. 

Portland, used to not inspire me. Over the past couple of years, this area, the climate, culture and way of life has really begun to inspire like it had never done before. Having been able to explore local yarn stores, and being able to shop local has been amazing and inspiring. 

While Portland winters are not particularly snowy, cold or harsh as other places, it has a unique style of winter and winter fashion all it’s own. It is very much a DIY, alternative city, which has opened the door for so many amazing Yarn stores to pop up, and thrive. While our winter highs are typically above freezing, the rain goes right through you and chills you to the bone. Hand Knit accessories are also a staple, especially for people like me who know how to knit for ourselves. 

I know several of my blog posts lately have been about knitting socks. While I don’t particularly like wearing socks, they are a necessity for the lifestyle I enjoy having that is primarily driven by being outside, and being able to be comfortable outside all year round. Not to mention the fact that store bought socks just aren’t the same. 

So, in the coming weeks and months I am hoping to deliver more quality content to you all. 

March KnitPicks Haul

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UPS finally dropped off my latest KnitPicks order yesterday evening. I had waited for it all day and it didn’t arrive until about a quarter to 6 in the evening. 

In this order I got some more sock yarn so I can knit up more socks this year. In knitting up my first pair of socks, I figured how much Palette yarn I would need to knit up a pair of socks, so I got some more of the colors I had only ordered one ball of in my last order. I also ordered a few more colors to add variety to the mix. 

I also ordered 4 sets of sock blockers, more T pins, some wool wash for my mom, as well as the sample sizes of several of the scents to try. I also ordered more cedar blocks to put in my wool tubs to help protect the woolen products I have made. 

I had also ordered this yarn bowl to set the yarn that I am working with in, to help it pull out better as I am working with it. 

I am pretty well set for the time being for socks and sock yarn. I eventually want to get more sets of sock blockers, but that will wait until I have my own place again, and more room to spread stuff out. 

I am working on socks because I am aiming to do more hiking in the near future and wanted better quality socks for hiking and being outdoors in the cooler months.